WVC 11-1B-8
§11-1B-8. Review by county commission; petition therefore;
hearing; decision.
(a) Not later than the second day of September, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-six, the owner of any assessed property may
petition for review of the appraised value of his or her property.
Such petition shall be filed with the county commission of the
county wherein such property or the greater portion thereof is
situate. No hearing shall be held with respect to any such
petition filed or received by the county commission after the date
hereinabove specified or which has not been deposited in the
regular course of the United States mail, postage prepaid, and
properly addressed to the county commission on or before such date.
Such county commission shall forthwith mail or deliver at least
weekly true copies of all such petitions to the tax commissioner
and to the county assessor which shall reflect the date of filing.

(b) The state tax commissioner shall devise and make available
a form which may be used as a petition by any owner or taxpayer
seeking review of the appraised value of any such property. The
petition shall set forth the name of the petitioner, the address or
identification of the property in question, preferably reflected
upon the most recent tax ticket, and the county and district
wherein such property is located and shall state in general terms
all matters of or to which the owner or owners take exception or
believe to be in error with respect to the proposed appraised value
of such property and such other matters as the owner or petitioner deems necessary to inform the county commission and the parties of
the nature of such owner's complaint. The owner may also petition
with respect to and raise at any time any issue, fact or
circumstance which has occurred with respect to the subject
property since the year one thousand nine hundred eighty-three.
The petitioner may use such form as provided by the tax
commissioner or may use his or her own petition which need not be
in any specific form so long as the nature of the complaint and
request for review can be ascertained. Such forms as are prepared
by the tax commissioner shall be made available at the offices of
the county commission, the county clerk, the assessor and the
sheriff and at such other places in the community as the tax
commissioner may deem appropriate and may be included in or with
the notice required by section six of this article.

(c) The county commission shall sit as an administrative
appraisal review board as required by the provisions of section
seventeen, article one-a of this chapter in review of the appraised
value of the property in question. In so doing, the county
commission shall hear such testimony under oath, and receive such
other evidence as the county commission may deem pertinent, as the
owner, the tax commissioner or other interested person may offer,
including the assessor, and shall make a true record of the hearing
and evidence presented by nonstenographic electronic recording or
other device which will assure that the recorded testimony will be
accurately preserved. The county commission shall also receive evidence of any substitutions, accretions, improvements, additions,
replacements, destructions, removals, casualties, acts of God,
waste or any like occurrences or any similar factors or occurrences
which have caused or resulted in any change in value of any
property subject to reappraisal for use by the assessor and the
county commission in fixing values for the year one thousand nine
hundred eighty-seven. Copies or transcriptions of the records
shall be available at the request of any of the parties who shall
bear the cost thereof. The provisions of subsections (b), (c) and
(d) of said section seventeen, article one-a shall apply to
hearings held pursuant to this article, except to the extent the
same are in direct conflict with the provisions of this article.

(d) Any other provision of present law to the contrary
notwithstanding, the prosecuting attorney of the county shall serve
in the capacity of law advisor only to the county commission when
called upon by the county commission to assist it with respect to
questions of law of which they may be concerned in any hearing held
pursuant to this article and shall not represent the tax
commissioner in any capacity with respect to any such hearing.

(e) Any other provision of present law to the contrary
notwithstanding, the tax commissioner may, at his request, be
represented in any proceeding under either article one-a or one-b
of this chapter by the attorney general, by an attorney permanently
or temporarily employed by the tax commissioner, or by an attorney
with whom the tax commissioner has contracted for such service.

(f) The tax commissioner shall be a party to every hearing
held pursuant to this article and it shall be his duty in such
capacity to see to the equal and uniform taxation of all species,
types, items and parcels of property subject to ad valorem
taxation.

(g) Upon making such true record and preserving as part of the
record the other evidence presented, the county commission shall
determine whether the amount of value fixed by the appraisal of the
property is correct under the circumstances. If the county
commission finds the appraisal to be correct it shall enter an
order approving the value as appraised and adopting by reference
the determination and information provided by the tax commissioner.
If the county commission determines that the amount of value fixed
by the appraisal of the property is incorrect, and if sufficient
evidence has been presented to permit correction of the appraisal,
the county commission shall correct the appraisal and fix the value
of the appraised property. If the county commission shall find
that the evidence is not sufficient to determine the correct value,
the county commission shall direct the parties to develop and
present such additional evidence as may be necessary and may
continue the hearing to a date and time, not to exceed ten days,
for the purpose of receiving such evidence sufficient to fix the
true and correct appraised value. If either of the parties need
more time in which to further develop or prepare such additional
evidence then, upon so informing the other party or parties and the county commission, a further period of time, not to exceed an
additional period of ten days, shall be granted for that purpose.
Upon making its determination as to the true and correct appraised
value, the county commission shall enter its order establishing
such value, which order shall include the commission's findings and
its reason or reasons therefor, and shall forward a true copy of
such order to all the parties. The county commission shall
transmit to the assessor those circumstances and matters which
would cause a change in the value of any property for such use as
may be appropriate in fixing assessed value in the year one
thousand nine hundred eighty-seven. Such matters shall include,
but not be limited to, those situations or circumstances required
to be received by the county commission pursuant to subsection (c)
of this section.

(h) Any owner whose property has been the subject of review to
determine the proper value thereof pursuant to this article or
article one-a of this chapter shall not be precluded from pursuing
or exercising any other right or procedure, or appearing before any
forum for the purpose of fixing the value of property for ad
valorem tax purposes, and for that purpose neither the provisions
of this article or of article one-a of this chapter shall be deemed
to afford remedies which are severally or jointly exclusive.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
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